Articles > Analysis

    It's been a long time since we've had a good, front-page AT Radar discussion.  Let's remedy that, shall we?          

It often seems to me that when it comes time to write my column, the stars align and I suddenly see that several of the game-related thoughts that have occured to me during the week actually have a connecting thread running through them that I can weave into a coherent argument. So it is again this week. My sources of inspiration start with a previous Gameshark column about buying too many games, continue with the resurrection of an old idea of mine about open and closed strategy in games, and closed with my recent shameful admission on...

I spent a recent column trying to take a different view of what it is that unites us all under the banner of "Ameritrash". But there's one particular unifying factor that I forgot, and while it wasn't really important to the argument I was trying to make there, it's interesting in its own right because it marks a near-universal point of agreement amongst AT fans. The point in question is simply that games need to have a good, solid dose of random to make them ...

FLGS versus OLGS.  Just the mention of the two terms is enough to get flame wars erupting instantly...how gamers are "killing" the Friendly Local Game Stores by buying online.  The secret, of course, is that brick and mortar game stores have been killing themselves for years...and all because they're basically run by two different guys.

One thing I didn’t mention in my last column about keeping up with my resolution to play the games I own an awful lot more was that I have recently been attempting to organise a new local gaming club, partly in order that I can get out more and play some more games. The elephant-minded amongst you may also recall that starting a local club was in fact another item on my list of resolutions for 2009. So in fact doing so has allowed me to kill two birds with one stone. The first...

A couple of weeks ago I got the chance to play Ghost Stories for the first time. It was okay. I certainly enjoyed the few games I played although I'd say it has some question marks over its long term appeal. But for some obscure reason it triggered off a chain of thought in my head as regards the process of choosing, buying and playing new games. I'm not yet entirely convinced that all the steps in this particular chain are actually as directly connected as they look, squatting...

  Money is fun, if you've got enough.  You can flaunt it.  You can taunt people with it.  You can hold fists full of it and laugh until your stomach hurts.  If you're in a rap video, you can throw it, one banknote at a time. MattDP's excellent article about Monopoly reminded me about all of these things, and I'm...

     When I was in art school as a painting major I worked in the English department as part of my financial aid. The contrast between my own painting department and the other proved to be an educational experience. Painting professors would frequently challenge students as to why they thought their work was art. If a student responded that their work was art because of it involved emotional or creative expression they would be met with scorn. The professors wanted something deeper.      In the English department the professors would be quickly annoyed whenever someone referred to writing as...

This week on BGN, we're going all touchy-feely and getting in touch with our feminine sides by exploring our emotional reactions to games. But we're doing so particularly through the medium of wargames, so it's okay - everything is macho and manly and above board as it should be. One thing we're not talking about, although I probably should of mentioned it somewhere, is people loosing it, flipping the board, and then grabbing handfuls of components and throwing it at the other players. If you're playing Warhammer then that sort of treatment can really hurt. I've never...